Case Study

Key Findings

Government agencies need procurement vehicles that match the speed at which they are required to do the country’s business

Defined processes and best practices, such as CMMI, PMBOK, and RUP, improve operational agility and responsiveness

Strong program and contract management ensure that complex requirements can be effectively met, leveraging a team of companies with complementary skills

Small businesses like TCG offer the government flexibility and responsiveness in managing complex contracts

Customer

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the country’s steward of government policy and finances. At the eye of the storm of government operations, OMB ensures that the President’s and Congress’s needs and directives are met by supporting the capabilities of every Federal agency.

Challenge

From strategic IT planning and management consulting support to help desk services and hardware/software configuration and maintenance, the OMB requires a wide array of IT support services and solutions. But in a fast-paced environment that requires quick turn-around for procurement of IT solutions and services, the existing purchasing mechanisms were too cumbersome to get the job done. OMB needed a streamlined procurement mechanism, and developed a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA).

Solution

Because TCG knows the people, organization, process, and strategic direction of OMB and, in particular, the Budget Formulation and Execution Line of Business (BFELoB), we crafted a tailored team that best met the agency’s needs and ensured agility, fast turnaround, and proper management of the program and tasks. The prudent application of industry best practices, including the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK), and the Rational Unified Process (RUP), kept the ship sailing steady and straight.

With TCG responsible for all task performance, this single competitively awarded contract allowed the OMB to purchase the full scope of IT services and products offered by TCG and our Contracting Teaming Arrangement (CTA) members’ GSA Schedule 70 contracts. A non-exhaustive list of these products and services included:

Strategic Planning

Software Design

Training

Help Desk

Testing

Market Research

Enterprise Architecture (EA)

Business Case Analysis

Certification & Accreditation

IT Management Consulting

Program Management

Information Assurance

Disaster Recovery Planning

Database Support and Administration

Independent Verification & Validation

IT Capital and Operating Budget Formulation

IT Capital and Operating Budget Formulation

Contingency Planning/Continuity of Operations Planning

Application Software Development and Support

Software and Hardware Configuration and Support

Data Center Operations and Server Administration

Buyers from almost any federal agency and BFELoB participants could use the BPA to place orders through their agencies’ procurement offices or via GSA/FEDSIM. There was no ceiling on the purchase amount and buyers received small business credit for utilizing the BPA. In the bargain, awards could be turned around very quickly.

Results

The BFELoB identified collaboration using a wiki platform as a cross-cutting initiative to better support agencies’ budget activities. Using our team’s broad capabilities and by leveraging those of our peers at OMB, we led the integration and extension of Atlassian Confluence, an open standards commercial wiki, a custom-built government wide authentication and accreditation system, and the Adobe Connect online meeting platform to create the largest and most successful inter-agency collaboration platform in government, the MAX Federal Community. MAX now serves over 86,000 users across 116 Federal agencies worldwide. Through our work, MAX isn’t limited to just the BFELoB; it is used by Federal staff for collaboration on any topic of their choice, all through a centralized, controlled, and audited system.

We have been responsible for managing the complexities of building and leading integrated teams of consultants, product providers, and subject matter experts to meet the needs of every past and currently in process task order issued through the BPA and have been 100% responsive to every one of them.

We have either operated at or below projected budget every year for every completed and in process task order to date.

Our technical lead at OMB was awarded a 2009 Rising Star Award by Federal Computer Week.

Taxpayer Savings: $177.5 million

For every project, TCG tracks the savings generated by innovation in methods and technologies. The OMB BPA has saved the US taxpayer over $177.5 million. For example, by having multiple agencies (in addition to the original agency) use the MAX Federal Community and MAX Online Meetings capability, we eliminate the cost of developing parallel, stovepiped systems.